MUHLENBERG COUNTY, Ky. (8/11/14) — Jon McCay recently was having a bad day, his office phone rang and he didn’t want to answer it. Hesitantly he answered the phone, and on the other end was former student Micka Blair.

Mr. McCay had a very uplifting and rewarding conversation with Micka about his current success with CVS Pharmacy, in which he credits his training at Job Corps for.

From the information Mr. McCay provided I was able to compile the following success story:

Have you ever had a horrible day at work so horrible to the point that you don’t want to again answer your office phone? Well, that’s how Jon McCay, Academic Instructor felt at the end of one long day at the Muhlenberg Job Corps Center. Hesitantly, he answered his phone to find former student, Micka Blair, on the other end of the line.

Micka was well known amongst the staff because he was an outstanding student and also served as the president of the Student Government Association. Micka was a student of the Muhlenberg Job Corps from September 2009 until April 2011. He successfully completed the Medical Office Support and Pharmacy Technology trades. Micka is doing very well for himself working as Lead Tech and Inventory Specialist for CVS Pharmacy. He mentioned when the store has a good profit, so does he.

Micka stated, “I would not be where I am today without the help of my Pharmacy Tech Instructor, Mark Shepherd. He taught us how to properly fill out pharmacy applications. One of those applications landed me this CVS job. When I went to the job interview and handed him a folder full of awards and accomplishments from Job Corps, he only asked one question: When can you start?” Micka said he thinks about Job Corps every day and that his paychecks are due to all his hard work and the caring staff. He occasionally runs into people he met at Job Corps and is surprised to see they are only working fast food instead of finding jobs they trained for. Micka closed his conversation with Mr. McCay with these words for current and future students, “keep an open mind, it’s okay that Kentucky isn’t like home. You came to get away from the distractions at home so you could focus on obtaining trade credentials. You hung out with friends at home, did that work for you in getting a job or job training?”

The Center will definitely stay in contact with Micka in hopes of him visiting the center to be a future guest speaker at graduation. And for Mr. McCay, he was glad he did answer that phone call, because it turned around his day to know the center made a positive impact on this former student.

This story was submitted to all media outlets: SurfKY News, Kentucky County News, Leader News, Times Argus, LaborNet, corporate office, and the Job Corps Facebook page, and National Job Corps Association.

The story caught the attention of McNeeley, Pigott & Fox who is a company contracted to advertise for Job Corps. They requested the students contact information so they can speak with Micka and his CVS Supervisor. Obviously they want to recognize the student and employer.

Mr. McCay consistently shows that student success is his reason for being here. In June, Mr. McCay kept me and other staff informed when students were having problems and notified staff of student successes as well. Jon never ignored a student’s problems no matter how small; he wanted to insure that all of his students would stay in the program and return after summer break. This is the kind of dedication to our students and program that Mr. McCay has always shown.

Horizons Youth Services and Muhlenberg Job Corps is proud to have him as part of the team.